Production
Doctor Who had been recommissioned for a fourth series in March 2007, shortly before the broadcast of the third series. The production schedule called for 15 full episodes to be produced, rather than the usual 14, due to the announcement that the next full series of Doctor Who would not air until 2010. This schedule meant that the programme would be unable to enter production during the second half of 2008. The 15 episodes consisted of 13 regular episodes and two Christmas specials. Recording for the 2007 Christmas special began on 9 July 2007, with production on the series itself beginning on 8 August 2007 and concluding on 29 March 2008. The tenth production block — consisting of 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor" and the BBC Proms "cutaway" scene "Music of the Spheres" — completed recording on 3 May.
Doctor Who Magazine gradually revealed writers for the series alongside episode announcements. First-time writers for the show included James Moran, co-writer of the 2006 horror film Severance, and Keith Temple, who had written episodes of Byker Grove and Casualty. Previous writers Gareth Roberts, Stephen Greenhorn, Helen Raynor, Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies all contributed to the series, with Davies continuing to act as head writer and executive producer. Tom MacRae had written an episode for this series, entitled "Century House", but this was replaced after Russell T Davies decided that it was too close in tone to Gareth Roberts' "The Unicorn and the Wasp". This was Phil Collinson's last series as producer, as well as Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner's last full series as executive producers, all having worked on the programme since its return. Davies and Gardner continued their roles for the 2009/10 Specials. Susie Liggat produced five episodes (blocks 2, 5 and 7), as she did in series 3 with "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood". Collinson received an executive producer credit for these episodes.
All of the episode titles were revealed in the 5 April 2008 issue of the Radio Times, except the title of the twelfth, which was "being kept secret as it gives away too much." The article also identified the title of episode 9 as "River's Run", as did the press release for the subsequent issue of Doctor Who Magazine, but this was changed a few days afterwards to "Forest of the Dead". The title of episode 12 was eventually revealed in a press release as "The Stolen Earth".
A Children in Need special, entitled "Time Crash", was produced alongside the series and was broadcast on 16 November 2007. In addition, a mini-episode entitled "Music of the Spheres" was shot on 3 May 2008 for series 4 and was premiered at the Doctor Who Prom on 27 July 2008, with the audio being broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 3. It was then broadcast on BBC One on New Year's Day 2009.
On 1 February 2008, the BBC announced that, in a partnership with Carlton Screen Advertising, a 90-second film trailer of the fourth series would be shown in cinemas across Britain "before the most anticipated new releases". The trailer was aired on British television on 22 March 2008. Three teaser trailers and one full length trailer consisting of unique footage were subsequently produced and aired on television and in cinemas promoting the fourth series.
"You've got to watch and listen closely. It's been seeded for a long time, with small but vital references going all the way back to series One."
—Russell T DaviesLike the previous three series, all of the episodes are bound together in a loose story arc. In previous series, the story arcs were in the form of an arc word, such as Bad Wolf, Torchwood, or Mr Saxon, but the arc for the fourth series is cumulative: Doctor Who Magazine's preview of "Partners in Crime" described the arc as "an element from every episode–whether it's a person, a phrase, a question, a planet, or a mystery –builds up to the grand finale". Multiple mentions were made about the bees disappearing from planet Earth and stories driven by a missing or lost planet. Executive producer Russell T Davies stated in the same feature that the series' finale had been planned for three years previous to its airdate. The regular series focuses heavily on Donna: David Tennant stated that the "whole thirteen weeks is Donna's story ... why she's with the Doctor again is the subtext", and producer Phil Collinson cited Donna as a "fresh dynamic" for the fourth series.
Production blocks were arranged as follows:
| Block | Episode Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Voyage of the Damned" | James Strong | Russell T Davies | Phil Collinson | 4.X |
| 2 | "The Unicorn and the Wasp" "Planet of the Ood" |
Graeme Harper | Gareth Roberts Keith Temple |
Susie Liggat | 4.7 4.2 |
| 3 | "The Fires of Pompeii" | Colin Teague | James Moran | Phil Collinson | 4.3 |
| 4 | "Partners in Crime" "Time Crash" |
James Strong Graeme Harper |
Russell T Davies Steven Moffat |
Phil Collinson | 4.1 CIN2 |
| 5 | "The Sontaran Stratagem" "The Poison Sky" |
Douglas Mackinnon | Helen Raynor | Susie Liggat | 4.4 4.5 |
| 6 | "The Doctor's Daughter" "Midnight" |
Alice Troughton | Stephen Greenhorn Russell T Davies |
Phil Collinson | 4.6 4.8 |
| 7 | "Silence in the Library" "Forest of the Dead" |
Euros Lyn | Steven Moffat | Phil Collinson | 4.9 4.10 |
| 8 | "Turn Left" | Graeme Harper | Russell T Davies | Susie Liggat | 4.11 |
| 9 | "The Stolen Earth" "Journey's End" |
Graeme Harper | Russell T Davies | Phil Collinson | 4.12 4.13 |
| 10 | "The Next Doctor" "Music of the Spheres" |
Andy Goddard Euros Lyn |
Russell T Davies | Susie Liggat Catrin Lewis Defis |
4.14 — |
Read more about this topic: Doctor Who (series 4)
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The production of obscurity in Paris compares to the production of motor cars in Detroit in the great period of American industry.”
—Ernest Gellner (b. 1925)
“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
“The society based on production is only productive, not creative.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)